Building the New Managerialist State

Consultants and the Politics of Public Sector Reform in Comparative Perspective

Denis Saint-Martin

Comparative study of public sector reform in Britain, France, and Canada

Analyses the influential role of management consultants

Examines trends over the last forty years, culminating in the 'new managerialism' of the 1990s

Building the New Managerialist State

Consultants and the Politics of Public Sector Reform in Comparative Perspective

Denis Saint-Martin

Description

In the 1980s and 1990s the world of governance witnessed a far-reaching change from the Weberian model of bureaucracy to the 'new managerialism' - a term used to describe the group of ideas imported from business and mainly brought into government by management consultants. Over the past fifteen years, the British, French, and Canadian governments have spent growing sums of money on consulting services and, as a result, policy-makers inside the state have increasingly been exposed to the business management ideas that consultants bring into the public sector.

Nevertheless, there are major differences in the extent to which reformers in the three countries embraced these ideas in the process of bureaucratic reform. Accordingly, this is a book about policy change and variation. It seeks to explain why the changes produced by the new managerialism have been more radical in some countries than in others. Building the New Managerialist State shows that the political reception given by governments to managerialist ideas has been significantly shaped by the openness of policy-making institutions to outside expert knowledge and on the organization, development, and social recognition of management consultancy.

Building the New Managerialist State

Consultants and the Politics of Public Sector Reform in Comparative Perspective

Denis Saint-Martin

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Variations of Managerialist Ideas Explaining the rise and spread of managerialist ideas Consultants, the state, and the politics of managerialism Chapter 2: The Management Consulting Industry: History and structure The boundaries of management consulting The historical and institutional link between management consulting and accountancy Conclusion Chapter 3: Britain: Providing management policy advice through the centre of government Labour's scientific revolution and the need for 'opening up' the civil service Heath and the white paper on government reorganization Thatcherism and the 'efficiency strategy' Conclusion Chapter 4: Canada: Spreading managerialist ideas through politically independent bodies 'Let the managers manage': The Glassco commission The search for a framework of central direction The royal commission on financial management and accountability The 1977 auditor general act From Nielson to PS2000: The new managerialism in the Mulroney era Conclusion Chapter 5: France: Reforming from within, or statism and managerialism The legacies of postwar reforms The decentralization reforms of 1982 Conclusion Chapter 6: Conclusion: Consultants, the state, and the politics of managerialism Establishing the authority of management consultancy The legacies of past bureaucratic reform policies Consultocracy and democracy

Building the New Managerialist State

Consultants and the Politics of Public Sector Reform in Comparative Perspective